


It All Started With a Bet

by igotatext



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxious Amy Santiago, Cute, Fluff, Gen, Sickfic, Unplanned Pregnancy, theyre having a BABY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-21 14:24:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16578215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igotatext/pseuds/igotatext
Summary: When it comes to Jake and Amy's relationship, nothing ever goes according to plan. But they're starting to realize that's not always a bad thing.





	1. Chapter 1

It all started with a bet.

 

They’d decided a few months ago that making bets wasn’t the best way of making big decisions. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t bet on small decisions. Like, for example, where to get takeout.

 

Amy should’ve known better than to ever make that bet. Jake ate cold meat supreme pizza for God’s sake. He obviously had no business choosing where they should eat. But the playful arguments they always had about what to get were beginning to lose their appeal, and neither of them had the energy after a long day of work to cook (there was also the insignificant little detail that neither of them could cook). So it seemed like a not too terrible idea at the time.

 

The bet: Jake couldn’t get through an entire conversation with Gina without her mentioning herself. You could argue that there were better ways to go about this, but that was just the fun Jake-and-Amy dynamic that everybody knew and loved. Or were annoyed by.

 

Boy, had Holt been right when he said they’d have a distracting and childish marriage. But Amy wouldn’t want it any other way.

 

It seemed like a relatively easy bet for her to win, but of course Jake had found a way. He spent a full ten minutes talking to Gina about how Terry’s butt looked in his pants. Ten minutes. Jake wasn’t anything if not determined.

 

She hooked her arm through his as they walked out of the building. “So, big winner,” she said, looking up at Jake’s smug face, “what’ll it be?”

 

Prior to their relationship, if Jake has chosen this place, Amy wouldn’t have us a doubt in her mind that he’d done it just to spite her. But now that they were in a loving relationship, she realized that Jake just didn’t make the best decisions. That’s why he needed her.

 

But still. A seafood truck?

Seafood? From a truck? Why would anyone possibly think that’s a good idea?

 

She voiced these thoughts to Jake, who just laughed.

“We both like seafood, don’t we?”

 

Amy sighed. “Of course I like seafood. That doesn’t mean I want to eat it from a truck.”

 

“I pass the truck a lot, and I’ve always wondered what the food tastes like.”

 

Amy narrowed her eyes. “We drive to and from work together everyday, how did I never notice a seafood truck?”

 

“You haven’t been a detective for almost a year now, Ames.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Maybe you’re losing your touch.”

 

She gave him a look.

 

“Okay, I passed it with Charles once and he said it sucked, but,” he held up a finger as Amy’s face dropped, “even though you might think that’s a bad sign, it’s probably a good sign.”

 

She nodded. “He does go on a thirty minute long tangent when anyone mentions sliced cheese.”

 

“Besides, “ he continued, turning the full glare of his thousand watt smile at her, “aren’t you at least curious?”

 

That was the thing about Jake. He was curious about things no one else wanted to know.

 

And that would be their downfall.

 

The food hadn’t actually been that bad. That had lured them into a false sense of security. And then, in the dead of night, the crab cakes revolted and sent Jake hurrying to the bathroom.

 

Amy was a light sleeper, so she’d woken up when Jake had left the bed. Then, before she could begin to wonder what Jake was up to, the sound of gagging jolted her out of her half awake daze.

 

She sat up in bed. “Jake?”

 

“I’m...fine.” He managed to choke out between heaves.

 

Amy sighed and stood up. “Sure you are.” She said sliding on her slippers.

 

She padded over to the bathroom door, which was wide open to reveal her husband in all his glory.

 

“Go back to sleep.” His words were a little muffled, as his face was smushed against the base of the toilet.

 

“I will.” Amy squatted so she could stare directly into his bleary eyes. “Do you think you’re empty?”

 

“Yeah.” He said miserably. Then his eyes widened in alarm.

 

“No?”

 

Him vomiting into the toilet was enough of an answer.

 

She sighed and plopped down on the bathroom floor next to him. He didn’t exactly need to have his hair held back or anything, but she wanted to be there for him and rub circles into his back. After all, that was what she had signed up for. If someone had told her way before she’d gotten married that this sequence of events would play out exactly as it had, she would’ve nodded like, yeah, that seems about right. She’d been ready for stuff like this when she’d become Mrs Santiago-Peralta.

 

Eventually, she led Jake back to bed and made sure he was comfortable. Then she sighed and lay down next to him. Poor Jake. He didn’t have guts of steel like she did. She got into big spoon position and rested her forehead on his back.

 

As soon as he felt better, she’d tell him I told you so.

 

 

****

Jake got up to vomit three more times before the sun rose. Amy woke up each time, but after the second time Jake had begged Amy not to get up again. She agreed, but sat up waiting for him to come back to bed.

 

Now it was barely morning, and Amy was awake. But why?

 

She looked to her left, but Jake was fast asleep. She looked at her alarm clock, but according to that it was five thirty and her first alarm went off at six. So why was she awake?

 

Her stomach suddenly lurched and she shot up. There was her answer.

 

She scurried into the bathroom, cursing under her breath. Damn Jake and damn the seafood truck and damn those crab cakes.

 

“Ames?” Jake called, sounding concerned.

 

She would have answered, if she hadn’t been emptying the contents of her stomach. Oh, she was never gonna let him hear the end of this.

 

****

 

Jake and Amy sat at the dining table, staring at the cups of untouched coffee that sat before them. It was seven o’clock and both of them had pretty much given up on sleep.

 

Amy sighed, breaking the silence. “This is your fault.”

 

Jake ran a hand over his face. “I’m sorry.”

 

“I hate you.”

 

“No, you don’t.”

 

“No, I don’t.” Amy agreed. She tried to maintain her stern expression. “But you still suck.”

 

Jake gave her a watered down version of his usual megawatt grin. “I love you too.”

 

She gave him a look that was a mix of fondness and exasperation. Needless to say, he got that look a lot.

 

Jake sighed. “Welp.” He stood up and stretched. “I should probably go shower.”

 

Amy raised an eyebrow. “I hope you don’t actually think you’re going to work.”

 

“What? No. What? That’s crazy. Of course not. Pfft.” Jake scoffed.

 

Amy counted down in her head. 3,2,1...

 

“But the thing is, I’m on this case with Rosa-“

 

“No. Sit down.”

 

Jake pouted, but complied.

 

“We’re gonna stay right here, in this apartment until we’re fully healed. Got it?”

 

Jake looked like he wanted to complain, but Amy held up a finger. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

 

And so they did exactly that. Got some rest, and spent two uneventful days at home. Was it the ideal situation? Not by a long shot. But Jake still managed to make her laugh, even as they barfed their guts out.

 

Which was why she felt guilty to be leaving him alone.

 

But he was making her feel less guilty with all his whining.

 

“Don’t leave me.” He wailed, limbs splayed all over the couch. “I’m dying.”

 

“Stop being dramatic.” Like that was ever gonna happen.

 

“You didn’t let me go to work.” Jake said, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

 

Amy ignored him and continued putting stuff in her bag. “You’re right. And I’m still not letting you go. But you’re still sick, and I’ve fully recovered.”

 

Okay, maybe that wasn’t completely true. She felt better than Jake, but she still felt nauseous. But she’d gotten some medication that helped keep the food down, and she was raring to go.

 

Kind of.

 

Okay, maybe she was just barely holding up, but one sick day was enough, and two was pushing it. Pre-Jake, she probably wouldn’t have stayed home at all, so this was an improvement.

 

“You can’t possibly be human.” Jake muttered. “No humans could do this.”

 

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Amy hoisted her bag over her shoulder. “And I’m just doing my job. Maybe you’ll understand when you have your own command.”

 

“I already understand. You’re not human.” Jake was had gotten bored of starfishing on the couch and now had his hands folded on his chest, as though preparing for death.

 

He was _so_ dramatic.

 

She bent down and kissed his sweaty forehead. “Try not to die before I get back.”

 

Jake sighed forlornly. “No promises.”

 

Amy started walking to the door. “Also, Charles is going to be by during his lunch break, so you’re gonna have to let him in.”

 

“Oh, you asked him to?”

 

Amy paused, hand on the door handle. “No, he asked me.”

 

Jake groaned.

 

“He mentioned something about a home remedy. Prunes stewed in yak milk?” Amy shook her head and opened the door. “I’ll let you find out.”

 

“Don’t leave me!”

 

“Okay, see you later, love you byeee!”

 

****

 

Somehow, what she could only describe as the Santiago spirit propelled her through the day.

 

She was quite literally running on empty. Even coffee couldn’t help her, because for some reason just the thought of it made her stomach turn. So instead, she drew on her plentiful reserve of willpower and made it through the day.

 

She briefed the uniformed officers, gave them assignments, politely answered Jennings every single time he’d asked how she was feeling (sixteen, she’d counted). Sergeant Amy Santiago did not come to play.

 

During her lunch break, Amy went upstairs to eat in the break room with the detectives.

 

“Hey, guys.” Amy walked into the bullpen and headed towards Rosa’s desk.

 

“Santiago.” Rosa acknowledged with a nod.

 

“Jake told me I should tell you not to work the case without him.”

 

Rosa rolled her eyes. “I brought the guy in yesterday.”

 

Amy nodded. “That sounds about right.”

 

“Why are you even here? Don't you have food poisoning?”

 

“Yeah.” Gina called from her desk. “Why don’t you stop being gross here and and go home forever?”

 

“Food poisoning isn’t contagious, Gina.”

 

Gina grinned. “Oh, I know.”

 

Amy scowled.

 

“Go home, Amy.” Rosa said, and Amy stopped glaring at Gina. “You look like crap.”

 

Amy sighed. “What would the uniformed officers do without me?”

 

“Have fun?” Gina offered.

 

“I swear to God, Gina-“ Amy caught herself. “Why am I threatening Gina? Anyway, Diaz, I’m going to enjoy my sandwich in the break room, which is what I came up here for.”

 

“Whatever. If you feel like you're about to barf, make sure you do it downstairs.”

 

“I am not gonna barf!” Amy snapped, a bit louder than she needed to. A few people in the bullpen turned to look at her.

 

Diaz smirked. “You’re right, Amy. You seem like you’re doing great.”

 

Amy made a face at her and stalked off. She felt fine. She wasn’t a barf risk. She knew that for sure because she had her trusty nausea medication, which was in her-

 

Why wasn’t it in her pocket? She was sure she’d put it there before she left the house. But she’d been so scatterbrained today. She’d handed her bag to Jennings today, and she’s made it halfway across the room before she realized she was supposed to give him a file.

 

Whatever, she thought, standing up. It was probably in her bag downstairs.

 

****

 

Yeah, it hadn’t been in her bag. Or her desk. What was she going to do? Despair began to overcome her.

 

She took a deep breath. She needed to think about this logically.

 

If she ate nothing until six o’clock, Santiago spirit or not, she’d implode.

 

She suddenly remembered that there was a pharmacy not too far from the precinct. She could rush over there and be back here in no time.

 

****

It was a last minute decision, really. She was heading towards the checkout at the grocery store when she happened to see the home pregnancy tests. Every time she saw a pregnancy test, without fail, she did a calculation in her head to see if her period was late. Even when she hadn’t had sex in months.

 

So of course that’s what she did now. And she realized she was almost two weeks late.

 

She’d noticed she was a bit late last week, but she’d put it down to stress. And then she’d forgotten about it because of this whole food poisoning business, but now she was beginning to wonder.

 

She and Jake  _had_  tried for kids once or twice. And nausea _was_ a symptom of early pregnancy.

 

She shook her head. This was crazy. She was just overthinking everything, as usual. All her research proved that the chances of them conceiving a child, at their current ages and without trying every time she was ovulating, were very slim.

 

But still, Amy thought to herself as she grabbed a pregnancy test. There was no harm in checking.

 

Anyway, she needed to hurry up and get back to the precinct.

 

*****

She never did go back to work that day.

 

She’d checked the pregnancy test in the pharmacy bathroom.

 

After that, she’d done a bunch of extensive research about the most accurate pregnancy tests.

 

Then she’d gone to every CVS, drug store and pharmacy she could find and bought every brand of pregnancy test.

 

Then she’d tried at least four of the supposed most accurate ones.

 

Then she’d hyperventilated in her car for thirty minutes.

 

And now, she was driving home. To Jake. She had pretty big news to share with him.

 

This was definitely not how she thought her day was going to go.


	2. Chapter 2

Jake snapped awake from his light doze as he heard the front door slam.

 

“Amy?” He sat up. “Is that you?”

 

“Mhm.” Amy walked past him and into the kitchen.

 

Jake frowned. She hadn't spared him so much as a glance. “Uh, okay.” 

 

She turned back to look at him. “Sorry.” She came over and pecked him on the cheek. “It’s been a day.” 

 

“It’s okay.” Jake stood up off the couch (from which he hadn’t moved in six hours). “Is your shift over already?”

 

Amy started going back into the kitchen. “I came home early to take care of you.”

 

Jake smiled. “That’s sweet.” He stretched until his back popped. “But I think I’ll be able to go to work tomorrow. I had a four hour nap and I feel unstoppable.”

 

Amy just nodded in acknowledgement and started rifling through drawers.

 

Jake furrowed his brow. Something was up with her. She just seemed...off.

 

“What are you doing?” He asked, walking into the kitchen and pulling up a stool. 

 

Amy didn’t enter the kitchen unless she absolutely needed to, because nothing good ever happened while she was in there. He may have been the cause of their food poisoning this time, but the last time had been her.

 

Her and her meatballs. Ugh, just the thought was making his still sensitive stomach curdle.

 

“I’m making soup.” She answered, her back to him. Had she made eye contact with him since she’d come back into this house?

 

“Soup?” Jake hoped he sounded genuinely curious and not afraid (which he was).

 

“Don’t worry, it’s from a packet.” She began pouring said packet into a cup.

 

Jake’s doubts were not completely gone, but he nodded and let her make him instant soup.

 

Ten minutes later, they were both on the couch with their surprisingly good microwave soup. They were watching Die Hard 2, and for the past ten minutes Jake had been preoccupied with that. But when he turned to comment on something that had happened onscreen, he caught her staring into space, her soup untouched.

 

He paused the movie and Amy blinked.

 

“Hey, I was watching that.” Amy said halfheartedly.

 

“No, you weren’t.” He put down his soup and took her hand. “Amy, you’ve been acting a little weird. You’ve barely touched your soup, you’ve been really quiet. Worst of all, you didn’t seem to be enjoying Die Hard.”

 

Amy sighed and finally met his gaze. “I’m fine.” Her eyes suddenly filled up with tears. “I’m not fine.” 

 

“Oh, Amy.” Jake put his arms around her and rested her head on his shoulder.

 

“I’m sorry.” She sobbed.

 

He stroked her hair. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

 

Amy didn’t cry much, but when she did she got embarrassed and tried to play down her emotions. She wanted Jake to think she was tough, probably because she has spent a lot of her life being treated carefully, because she was a girl. But all she wanted was to be taken seriously.

 

Jake already knew his wife was a badass. He’s seen her take down three bad guys at a time without breaking a sweat. But that didn’t mean she should feel ashamed of crying.

 

Amy raised her head up and rubbed at her eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s just that-“ she stopped wiping her eyes and looked at him from under her wet eyelashes.

 

The expression on her face broke his heart. Great, now he was the one holding back tears.

 

“It’s just that what?” Jake prompted gently. Amy was just staring at him, her mouth slightly open like she was at a loss for words.

 

She sighed heavily. “It’s just that, for the first time I can remember, I don’t have a plan. Like, I know what I’m going to do. But I also have no idea what I’m going to do. Do you understand?”

 

Jake frowned. “Uh...yeah?”

 

Amy nodded. “Yeah, I thought so.” She raked her hands through her hair. “Okay, I just have to come out with it. Just throw it out there into the universe. Say the words out loud.”

 

Jake watched her quietly as she had these deliberations. He wasn’t sure whether she was still talking to him or she was just psyching herself up.

 

“Okay.” She looked directly into his eyes. “Jake.”

 

This sounded serious. “Amy.”

 

“For the past four hours I’ve been spiraling. Hard. And I had no one to talk to. Or, more accurately, no one I  _wanted_ to talk to. Except for you.”

 

He smiled softly at that.

 

“How long have I been a sergeant?” She asked suddenly.

 

He blinked. He’d thought she was monologuing but apparently now she was doing a call and response thing. “Ten months?”

 

“Correct. And I’ve kept the uniformed officers working  smoothly, there haven’t been any major disasters. But I haven’t made history. I haven’t proved myself, you know?”

 

Jake raised an eyebrow. “Just because you haven’t shaken the foundations of the NYPD yet doesn’t mean you’re not a great sergeant. Besides, you’re still on track with your life calendar.”

 

Amy bit her lip. “That’s the thing. I’m not.”

 

Jake furrowed his brow in confusion. “How?”

 

“I’m pregnant.”

 

Jake’s heart skipped a beat. “What?”

 

“Yeah, I’m pregnant.” Amy confirmed, as though she hadn’t just dropped life changing news. “And don’t get me wrong, I fully intend on keeping the baby. And I’ve always wanted to have kids. And buried somewhere deep underneath all this anxiety is excitement.”

 

Jake nodded wordlessly. His mind was still processing  _pregnant._

 

“But the plan was to get pregnant in eight months at least. When we were in our second year of marriage, and I was in my second year as sergeant. Then I would’ve had more time to ‘shake foundations’ or whatever.”

 

She looked at Jake, who just nodded again. The initial shock had begun to fade, and now there was just a warm, glowy feeling spreading through his chest.

 

“And I know what you’re thinking: if you wanted kids in eight months, why didn’t we start trying eight months from now? But that’s not how it  _works.”_

 

That hadn’t been what he’d been thinking at all, but he let her speak. He knew she needed to get it all out.

 

“We’re more busy with work than your average couple, and we don’t have as much time or energy to devote into trying to have kids. So I thought, if we started trying a little bit, here and there, the soonest we could be pregnant was four months. That was me being  _generous.”_ She looked at him. “How many times did we try, Jake?”

 

Call and response again. “Three? No, two.”

 

“Two times!” She burst out. “And one of those times I wasn’t even ovulating!” She sighed, deflating.

 

Jake put his arms around her once again and pulled her close.

 

There was a moment where they just held each other, silent as they contemplated what this meant.

 

“Well,” Jake said, first to break the silence as usual, “we always knew we were crazy good at sex.” 

 

Amy chuckled softly. _“Stop.”_

 

“What? It’s true, isn’t it?”

 

Amy pulled away so she could make eye contact with him. “How do you feel about this?”

 

“How do I feel?” Jake tried to make sense of the feeling in his chest. “Excited. Happy. Can you imagine a baby that’s half you and half me? With my brains, my looks and my athleticism, that kid would be unstoppable.”

 

Amy punched him in the arm.

 

“Okay, maybe you’d have something to do with it too.” Jake frowned, becoming serious. “But I’m also terrified. What if I suck as a dad? What if I ruin them like my dad ruined me?”

 

Amy cupped his cheek with her hand. “Jake, you’re not ruined. You’re perfect.” She kissed him, short and sweet. “And the fact that you’re so afraid to be a bad dad just proves you’ll be a great one.”

 

“But what if I become absent because of forces out of my control?” Jake persisted. “We have so many enemies, Ames. And our job isn’t exactly the safest one in the world.  What if I-“

 

“No.” Amy interrupted.

 

“But-“

 

“Shh.” Amy put a finger to his lips. “No. Never. You’ll be an amazing dad. Who’ll never be absent, because of work or...other reasons. End of story.”

 

Jake grinned. “Thanks, Amy.”

 

She kissed him again, deeper and more passionately. Just as he was wrapped his arms around her waist and the kiss seemed to be leading somewhere, she pulled away.

 

“Well, that’s enough of that.” She said, standing up.

 

Jake was disgruntled.“Huh? Where are you going?”

 

“To get the pregnancy binder. We’ve got a whole lot to do.”

 

****

 

Amy hadn’t really had much control over the circumstances in which she had gotten pregnant. That was why she wanted to plan every single detail of the pregnancy.

 

She’d described the pregnancy binder as ‘bare-bones’ and ‘a loose guideline’ but she had five hundred names on the shortlist for baby names. She’d picked out the crib. She’d chosen the the cute nickname their baby would call each grandparent (and she’d also ignored his suggestion to change his dad’s nickname from Pops to Poops).

 

This was all just normal Santiago over planning.  But she did have a rule, and it wasn’t something Jake had expected.

 

“You don’t want to tell anyone?”

 

She nodded. “Not for the first three months at least. After that, the chance of miscarriage will drop to about three or four percent.”

 

Miscarriage. He hadn’t even thought about that. Just another thing he was gonna obsess about. 

 

“Just in case I have one, I don’t want to have to deal with all the...I don’t know, pity?” She looked at him to see if he understood.

 

He nodded. He understood perfectly.

 

Man, pregnancy was hard. And he wasn’t even the pregnant one.

 

“Now, you’re wondering what this entails.” Amy continued.

 

“Uh, I’m pretty sure it entails not telling people you’re pregnant.”

 

“Yeah, you think you know what you’re doing. But don’t forget you’re the one that exposed Terry. “

 

“Anyone could’ve made that mistake.” Jake tried to argue.

 

“Yeah, anyone above the age of sixty.” Amy laughed. “Anyway, nothing like that will happen with us because you will have absolutely nothing that has to do with the baby on your computer at work, your phone or anything you take to work with you. We will not discuss the baby within fifty feet of any of our coworkers, or within a hundred feet of the precinct...”

 

Jake just watched in wonder as she flipped through the giant-ass pregnancy binder and read all her rules out. Man, he couldn’t wait until she’d been pregnant for a while and the binder was no longer just ‘bare bones’. These plans were just not detailed  _enough._

 

“Also,” Amy continued, “don’t let Charles anywhere near me. He means well, but let’s not forget that the week of our honeymoon, he sent me five hundred voicemails about sex positions. I don’t think pregnant Amy has the patience for that sort of thing. I almost bit off Gina’s head today, Jake.  _Gina.”_

 

Jake whistled. “That’s crazy. Charles wouldn’t stand a chance.”

 

Amy was still reading through the guidelines (apparently she was allowed to kick Charles in the balls if he asked her two weird questions in the space of one hour) when Jake stifled a yawn.

 

Amy paused. “Okay. I guess we’ve been at this for a while.” She checked her phone. “Wow, it’s almost two am.”

 

“We can plan the pregnancy down to minute by minute intervals if you want to, Amy.” Jake said, rubbing his eyes. “We don’t have to do it it immediately.”

 

Amy shut her binder slowly. “You’re right.”

 

“I’m always right.” Jake wiggled his eyebrows until she smiled at him. “Now, considering the fact that you’re going to be feeling icky for most of the next two months, and the fact that today has been pretty life altering, do you want to take just one more day off?”

 

Amy narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know...”

 

That was a good sign. At least she hadn’t immediately started protesting and talking about her weird ‘Santiago Spirit’ or whatever.

 

“I’ll take another day off too.” Jake said. He’d been looking forward to work tomorrow, but Amy took priority over everything. “I could take care of you.”

 

She still didn’t look convinced.

 

“We could update the binder.” He suggested.

 

Yup. That was what she wanted to hear.

 

“Okay.” She finally agreed. “I’ll take another day off. Not because I need to, but because I’m pregnant and I deserve special treatment.”

 

Jake laughed. “Sure you do.”

 

That night, as he fell asleep wrapped around his wife (she’d used the pregnancy card to be little spoon. He could tell there was going to be a lot of that in his future), he found his hand wandering to her stomach. Of course, it was much to early for her to be showing, but he imagined he could feel a little heartbeat under his fingers.

 

They were going to have a baby.

 

He sighed contentedly, and as he drifted off, he wondered if Amy would let him name the baby after a character from Die Hard.  

 

Probably not. But a guy could dream...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i didnt make it clear how many chapters this would have. i still have no idea how to work this site. so if you read the first chapter and were pleasantly surprised to see a new chapter, enjoy! even if youre reading this for the first time, enjoy! peace out


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was a combination of both POVs, because I would’ve felt weird if it was uneven. It’s pretty long and rambly. Enjoy!

Amy had known she was pregnant for a month, and had actually been pregnant for nine weeks.

 

It had been the most stressful month of her life.

 

That included the month before the wedding, the month before her spelling bee championship, and the two months Jake had been in jail. There was just a whole lot going on.

 

First, there was the business of the morning sickness. The nausea was eventually going to subside by the end of the first trimester, but for now it was still going strong. Jake, bless his heart, did his very best to keep up with her rapidly changing preferences, but she barely could manage herself.

 

For the past two days, she hadn’t been able to stand the sight or smell of mustard. This also happened to be Hitchcock’s favorite condiment, which he slathered on everything.

 

Needless to say, there had been many close calls. Either regarding Jake having to take her out of the room to stop her from strangling Hitchcock, or regarding Jake having to take her out of the room before she vomited all over everyone and their lunches.

 

Also, she had cramps. She’d thought the whole point of being pregnant was to skip your period for nine months (and to have children or whatever) but no. Being pregnant was being your period, on steroids, and feeling like you have the flu, and hating your body, and having constant nervous breakdowns. Or maybe that last one was just her.

 

Another thing that had been hard about the pregnancy was the fact that it was secret. When it came to their relationship, everyone in the precinct heard about any changes pretty much as soon as she did. Sometimes even sooner, which was crazy.

 

Whenever she complained to Jake about it, he always responded the same way.

 

“If it’s stressing you out so much, let’s just tell everyone.” He’d say. “Nothing’s gonna happen to the baby.”

 

And she’d always reply, “We don’t know that. Let’s just play it safe.”

 

Jake was always saying how he wanted to shout out to the world that they were having a baby. Amy had never technically said he couldn’t do that. He could shout all he wanted, as long as they were a hundred feet from the precinct.

 

Actually, scratch that. All their friends lived in Brooklyn, it was too risky. He could shout it on the street in Manhattan, maybe.

 

She’d thought that Jake would find it hard to keep it a secret. He was friends with Charles, and no one else could use any subject as a Segway into their sex life the way he could. Yesterday she’d asked him where Jake was and he’d somehow led the conversation to the foods she needed to eat for fertility.

 

But Jake, the man who’d emailed baby name ideas to the entire precinct, wasn’t the problem somehow.

 

She was.

 

Baby Santiago-Peralta had very rudely taken over her body without giving her any say in the matter. They used her bladder as ajump rope, made her hate her favorite foods and generally drove her crazy . If she didn’t love the little lump so much, she would hate them.

 

Jake did damage control anytime she did something noticeably strange. Like when she’d lunged at Boyle with her arm outstretched to punch him. Or when she’d screamed and thrown her chair across the room.

 

Pregnancy hade made her a special kind of crazy.

 

Jake had been telling people she was trying to quit smoking cold turkey, which was technically true. It’s just that the reason she was doing so was because she was pregnant.

 

All she wanted was to breeze through pregnancy the same as she’d always been. But being pregnant made her anxiety go _way_ high and her patience go _way_ low.

 

And she’d never get used to randomly wanting to cry.

 

Like now for instance. Jake was at the entrance of the uniformed officers bullpen. He was here to take her out of the precinct for once, to have lunch in a park that wasn’t too far from here. But it was also _just_ far enough for them to discuss the baby without fear of being overheard. She couldn’t wait.

 

He’d gotten sidetracked, by Jennings of course. He was probably boring him with some kind of fact about stationery or something. Jake kept glancing at her, most likely trying to find a way to escape.

 

Amy smiled at him and mouthed “everyday”. If she could deal with Gary every single day, Jake could deal with him for two minutes.

 

Behind her, two officers were talking near the fridge. Amy was half listening to their conversation as she waited for Jake to be done.

 

“Hey, whose is this?” One of them said, presumably referring to something in the fridge.

 

“Not mine.” The other replied. “I have no idea why anyone would drink cherry cola.”

 

_Cherry_.

 

Crap, Amy thought as her eyes filled with tears. She blinked rapidly, and focused all of her energy on not sobbing. 

 

She sent telepathic signals to Jake to come and save her from her own pregnant brain. She was pretty sure sobbing hysterically would attract the wrong kind of attention.

 

After what seemed like an eternity of blinking and trying to find subtle ways to dab at her eyes, Jake finally came over. He seemed pleasantly surprised when she stood up and pulled him into a hug.

 

“Hi there.” Jake said, not sounding dazed by Amy clinging to him. “You okay there?”

 

“I need five seconds to wipe my eyes on your shirt.” Amy muttered. “Don’t make it obvious.”

 

She didn’t need to see Jake’s face to know he was smirking, but he said nothing.

 

When she was done, she grabbed Jake’s hand and tugged him towards the door.

 

“Hey, Sergeant.” Jennings said as they passed. “I was wondering-“

 

“Bye, Gary.” Amy didn’t so much as spare him a glance.

 

When they emerged in the cold winter afternoon, Jake looked at her.

 

“So what was that in there?” He asked, walking in step with her. “Actual sadness or hormones?”

 

She glanced at him out of he corner of her eye. “Well, this isn’t exactly regulation, because we aren’t up to a hundred feet away yet, but...” she turned and smiled at him. “Our baby’s the size of a cherry!” She whispered excitedly.

 

There was a moment where he didn’t say anything. Then he spun her to face him, put his arms around her waist and kissed her senseless.

 

****

 

When Amy was pregnant, she broke the scales.

 

By which Jake meant, she no longer operated within the confines of the Santiago Stress Scale, or the Santiago Drunkenness Scale. Although he had also meant it to be a double entendre, which Amy had not found amusing when he’d mentioned it to her.

 

Pregnant Amy was constantly at a five on the stress scale, which was scary, since the highest point on the scale was six. Pregnant Amy was never drunk, but was somehow a combination of two or more of her drunk personalities at a time.

 

She was really, _really_ , horny, which Jake appreciated. She would tell him she needed to show him something outside and then she’d just take him to a corner and make out with him. Usually, Amy wasn’t one for PDA, so he tried to enjoy her newfound horniness as much as he could.

 

She was also really scatterbrained, which was usually Jake’s department. Yesterday she’d dropped her phone on her plate and walked around with a sandwich in her hand. She’d only noticed when she’d tried to press the home button on her sandwich.

 

She’d been overly emotional for the past two weeks, and she hated it. She was used to having complete control, and all of a sudden she was losing her cool over the smallest things. It drove her crazy, but Jake thought it was cute (especially that cherry thing last week). It was weird being the reasonable one, though.

 

A month ago, he wouldn’t have thought it was possible to love Amy more, but here he was. She was carrying an actual tiny human inside her. She was such a badass.

 

He wished he could make it easier for her, though. Watching someone go through so much and not being able to do anything to help was agony. The most he could do was hold her hair back when she threw up, and hold her arms back when she wanted to punch someone.

 

Jake realized that he’d been staring at his computer screen for the past ten minutes without actually doing anything. He’d been thinking about Amy, who’d been even more nauseous than usual today.

 

He shook his head to clear it. Focus, Jake, he thought. If Amy was here, she’d tell him that she was fine, and he could make it up to her later (this could mean a variety of things, from sex to buying her extra food).

 

He took a deep breath and began to work on his computer. He’d see Amy in less than thirty minutes, when they were leaving for their first ultrasound. He’d been anticipating it all week.

 

Not even ten minutes after he’d started working, he looked up to see Jennings rushing towards his desk.

 

Jake frowned. Before he could begin to ask what was going on, Jennings blurted out, “Amy fainted.”

 

Jake’s legs had him up and hurrying towards the elevator before his brain had even processed what had happened. He pressed the elevator button a bunch of times, and when it delayed, he took to the stairs.

 

He tried not to stay calm, because she needed him, but he could feel the panic clutching at his heart. He just pushed the badthoughts to the back of his mind and focused on taking the stairs two at a time.

 

After what seemed like eternity, but in reality had been about thirty seconds, Jake rounded the corner into the uniformed officers bullpen. His eyes were immediately drawn to Amy. Immediately the pressure in his chest lessened.

 

He’d never felt so relieved in his life.

 

Amy had already come to, and was sipping on a bottle of water while a small crowd of uniformed officers gathered around her. Jake shoved past all of them until he got to her.

 

“Give her some space.” One of the uniforms said, and the crowd slowly began to disperse.

 

“Hey, you okay?” Jake asked as soon as she was within earshot. “What happened?”

 

She glanced at the still lingering officers before she answered. “I don’t know. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, I was on the floor.”

 

Jake opened his mouth to say more, but she shot him a stern look. She didn’t want him to say too much, not near this many ears.

 

He respected her wish not to tell anyone, he really did, but what if it was a health emergency?

 

He sighed. “Let’s get you some fresh air.” Meaning: lets go somewhere we can talk.

 

She looked at him strangely, as if she’d expected him to protest. Then she sighed and put her hand out for him to hoist her up.

 

A minute later, they were sitting in Jake’s car.

 

Immediately the doors closed he asked again, “Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine, Jake.” Amy said, turning the heaters up. “Don’t make a scene.”

 

“Make a scene?” He asked incredulously. “You just fainted in the middle of the precinct!”

 

“I know!” She suddenly burst out. “It has to be BSP.” BSP sounded like some scary pregnancy syndrome, but it was actually just their acronym for Baby Santiago Peralta. “I’m scared, Jake.” Amy looked up at him, her eyes glassy. “Nothing like this ever happened to my mom, and she was pregnant eight times.”

 

Jake was scared too, but he had to keep his cool so as not to scare her even more. “You can’t compare yourself to your mom, Amy. For one, you’re not having eight kids.”

 

This did not seem to comfort her.

 

“Call the doctor, I’m sure it’s fine.” Jake said, starting the car.

 

“Where are we going?” Amy asked, fastening her seatbelt before she’d even agreed to leave.

 

“To get our first ultrasound.”

 

“What? Jake, we’re going to be way too early.” She protested, though he knew her well enough to hear the excitement through the worry.

 

“Amy Santiago.” Jake began to pull out of the garage. “Do I have to be the one to tell you that there’s no such thing?”

 

“You need to tell the captain-“

 

“Already done.”

 

“But isn’t there any work you need to finish-“

 

“None.” Jake cut her off again. “Today was a slow day.”

 

By slow day, he meant that he’s arrested some guy for murdering his wife and he was still yet to finish the paperwork. But Amy didn’t have to know that.

 

Before they’d even left the parking lot, Amy had googled and found out that while fainting was rare, it didn’t affect the baby. A call to her doctor had confirmed what she’d read, and he’d told her to avoid fainting by eating small meals frequently to keep her blood sugar from dropping. Amy had then gotten frustrated, because she could barely keep down the food she ate at normal . She’d then begun to rant about how her pregnancy was just a bunch of contradictions to drive her crazy. Then they’d spent ten minutes in the parking lot with Amy having a mini mental breakdown, and now they were here.

 

They were going to see their baby for the first time.

 

He kind of wished he’d thought to stop at home first, because they were taking the rest of the day off and there was no point in Amy wearing her full uniform. But they were here now.

 

The ultrasound tech explained to them what the gel he’d rubbed on Amy’s stomach was used for. And then it was time for the moment of truth.

 

On the screen, some black and white smudges appeared. Jake could just make out a head.

 

Their baby.

 

A swell of emotion filled his heart and he squeezed Amy’s hand. He looked at her, and of course she was crying. He looked back at the screen. He could make out more. An arm, a leg. He wasn’t sure he’d seen a more perfect smudge in his life.

 

The ultrasound tech started to search for the heartbeat. He put the Doppler in the center of Amy’s belly, and there was a tense few moments where there was no sound. He kept moving it around, and in those short seconds jake had the darkest thoughts he’d ever had.

 

And then, the sound of the heartbeat exploded into life, and it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard.

 

Later, in the car in the parking lot, after Amy hadn’t suggested but demanded that they buy a home Doppler, she suddenly grabbed his hand.

 

He turned to look at her. “You okay?”

 

“I know you think I’m being paranoid, not wanting to tell anyone about the baby.” She said quietly, looking not at him but at their intertwined fingers.

 

Jake frowned. “You’re not being paranoid. It happens to one in four women in the first trimester.”

 

“But you still want to tell people.”

 

Jake was silent.

 

“I get that. It wouldn’t have been my first thought too, if I hadn’t lived through it.”

 

Jake furrowed his brow in confusion. “Lived through it?”

 

“When I was four,” Amy began, “my mom was pregnant. If already lived through one of her pregnancies before, so I already knew what to expect. Our extended family members were constantly around the house, my mom’s mom would come over and give my mom advice on whatever. Everyday the house was bustling with life.”

 

She paused, and he squeezed her hand for support.

 

“Two months in, she lost the baby. It was a shock to everyone. She’d already had six children without any hiccups. Our extended family members kept showing up, but this rime with condolences. My mom refused to come out of her room to see any of them, and my aunts took care of us for a while. Anytime I saw my mom, she seemed to have just finished crying.”

 

“I’m so sorry, Ames.” Jake stoked her hand. “I had no idea.”

 

“It was the saddest month of my life.” Amy sighed.

 

“What happened after a month?” Jake asked gently. “Did she stop being depressed?”

 

“Hm?” Amy looked up. “Oh, no, she got pregnant and had twins.”

 

Jake’s lip twitched.

 

“What?” Amy narrowed her eyes.

 

“I’m sorry, I know this is a serious moment. But you really thought it was going to take _eight_ _months_ to get pregnant when your mom was like that?”

 

She punched his arm.

 

“Sorry.” He held his hands up. “I’ll shut up.”

 

“Anyway, when I saw our baby’s perfect little head, I realized something.” Amy took his face in her hands. “I’m not my mom. The nine-nine is family, and I want them to experience this with us. No matter the risk.”

 

Jake smiled and kissed her.

 

“Also,” she said, when they came up for air, “judging from what the doctor said a few days ago, I might start showing early and the pants of this uniform don’t leave a lot of wiggle room.”

 

 

****

 

 

That night, when they were in Shaw’s, Charles came up to them, as they stood laughing near the bar.

 

“Hey, Amy.” He smiled, chipper as always. “Why haven’t you been hanging out at Shaw’s that much recently?”

 

Jake and Amy shared a look, and what they had to do next was clear.

 

Amy shrugged. “Oh, you know.” She said, as Jake positioned himself behind Charles.

 

She didn’t look at Charles, but at Jake behind him, when she said, “I’m pregnant.”

 

As predicted, Charles fell backwards into Jake’s open arms.

 

And it was said his scream of joy could be heard from three blocks away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yasss! Doneee. Hope you liked it

**Author's Note:**

> my first fic, so be gentle. comment your thoughts. kudos is always encouraging. and, yeah. hope you enjoyed it.


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